In a 2011 photo, Bryan Stow, center, poses with son and daughter. / AP

by Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Sports

by Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY Sports

SAN FRANCISCO - Of all the luminaries and special guests the San Francisco Giants welcomed to AT&T Park for the first two games of this World Series, perhaps no one's attendance was as moving as Bryan Stow's.

Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan critically beaten in the Dodger Stadium parking lot in March 2011, attended Thursday night's Game 2 as a guest of the club.

"He is a guest of ours tonight but the family had asked that we not do anything ceremonial," Giants public relations official Jim Moorehead said. "He's here to enjoy the game."

Stow, a 43-year-old father of two, spent six months in critical and long-term care after the March 31, 2011 beating on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium. In the beating's aftermath, he was placed in a medically-induced coma to ease pressure on his brain after the attack by two assailants in the stadium parking lot.

In the most recent post on the family's web site, they noted that Stow's memory "is still very unpredictable," but that he's "back to caring what his hair looks like and needs to put gel in it every morning."

Stow's family became close with the Giants organization, particularly pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, and all-time home run leader Barry Bonds visited Stow in the hospital after the beating and later pledged to pay his children's college expenses.

Stow's two alleged assailants, Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood, are to stand trial on three felony charges each of mayhem and assault and battery. Stow's family also filed a $50 million civil suit against the Dodgers that is set to go to trial Feb. 5.